Activision to buy Rockstar and 2K Games?

Industry rumours suggest that Call Of Duty publisher Activision are looking to buy Rockstar owners Take-Two Interactive, giving them control of both Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead.

Could Niko and co. soon be under new management?

The entirely unsubstantiated rumours started with British trade paper MCV , which quotes an unspecified ‘senior executive’ as saying the following: ‘There are very strong rumours amongst people at a very senior level within the global business.”But there’re not much more than that at the moment – they are just rumours. And, of course, given Activision’s news this week, everyone is now looking to see what their next move is. But you can definitely put two and two together and make four-ish,’ he added.The news of which he speaks is of course Activision’s announcement that they are cancelling all their music games , including Guitar Hero and DJ Hero, as well as Grand Theft Auto clone True Crime: Hong Kong.It’s suggested that part of the reason for cancelling True Crime is that it would act as a ‘sacrificial lamb’ in negotiations with Take-Two Interactive, whose 2K Games arm also publishes the likes of BioShock and Mafia.Adding to the rumours is the fact that Take-Two’s contracts with many of the key staff at Grand Theft Auto makers Rockstar North – including the Houser brothers – runs out next year.

If they were to leave Rockstar (and there’s no particular reason to suppose they will) then that could substantially lower the company’s market value and make them easier to acquire.This isn’t the first time someone has tried to buy Take-Two though. In 2008 Electronic Arts attempted a hostile takeover, but that eventually came to nothing. That was when Take-Two was in considerably more dire financial straits too.Unlike Activision they actually made a profit in their last results, so they may not prove easy prey even if these rumours are true.